Ryan Dunn Death: Jackass star failed to cheat death twice

Jackass star Ryan Dunn, who is known for toying with danger and flirting with death on numerous occasions, was pronounced dead Monday after plowing his car into a patch of trees at nearly 140 mph.

Dunn gained nationwide popularity by his daredevil stunts that involve crude, dangerous, ridiculous, and sometimes self-injuring pranks. He has been involved with Jackass, Viva La Bam, Homewrecker, and Proving Ground.

The 34-year-old has lived on the edge, sometimes getting too close to death, but managing to avoid it. He already has a record of crashing his car while driving under influence (DUI) in 2005 in in West Whiteland Township, along with 23 total driving citations – and possibility a lot more that he didn’t get caught for, but every time he managed to cheat death. In 2005 after the DUI charge, he was forced to complete a program designed for first-time, non-violent offenders.

Monday's incident also reflected Dunn's reckless lifestyle. His death was unfortunate, but nevertheless inevitable.

Dunn was driving on Route 322 with another passenger, his friend and Jackass costar Zachary Daniel Hartwell on the fateful day after heavy partying and drinking. A photo tweeted couple of hours before the crash showed Dunn and his friends drinking heavily.

The crowd was just pouring in. It was a massive party, with people everywhere, drinking, Thaddeus Kalinoski told the Daily Mail. Kalinowski was drinking with Dunn for five hours at the bar Barnaby’s.

He was drinking quick. He ordered for the entire bar, Kalinoski said.

According to his drinking friends, Dunn consumed multiple kinds of alcohol, including at least three beer and three shots of whiskey.

When the preliminary toxicology test came out, Dunn's blood alcohol content (BAC) was 0.196 percent. The legal limit in Pennsylvania is 0.08. In other words, the BAC was 2.5 times HIGHER than legal limit.

Driving under influence may not be the only factor that contributed to the crash.

Speed may have been a contributing factor to the accident, said West Goshen Police Chief Michael Carroll.

Dunn was driving his Porsche 911 GT3 at around 140 mph, or nearly 2.5 times HIGHER than the 55 mph permissible speed limit.

Dunn's close associates have confirmed Dunn had a habit of always driving too fast.

April, the mother of Jackass costar Bam Margera said Dunn always drove too fast and she yelled at him all the time about that.

Around 2:38 a.m. on Monday, Dunn's car veered off the road, flipped in the air, and crashed into trees. The car caught on fire and both Dunn and his friend Zachary Daniel Hartwell died on the spot. Autopsy report said Dunn and Hartwell died of blunt and thermal trauma.

The police could recover the mangled remains of the car. Carroll said the crash was the worst he's seen in his entire career. I've never seen a car destroyed in an automobile accident the way this car was, even before it caught on fire, Carroll told Radar Online. The automobile actually came apart. It was unbelievable and I've been on a lot of fatal accident scenes. This was by far the worst I've ever seen.

The Jackass star cheated death once. But he could not do so the second time.